Socialist Sawant said in January that she'll take home only $40,000 after taxes of her $117,000 salary, and put the remaining money in a "Solidarity Fund" to support her causes. An advocate for a higher minimum wage, Sawant
was one of two councilmembers who opposed the pay-scale hike for City Light CEO Jorge Carrasco.

Sarkisian was the highest paid public Washington state employee in 2013, before leaving in December to coach at Southern California.
Football coaches are always the top paid state workers, but officials like to note that athletic department revenue - including ticket sales and TV rights - pay for coach salaries, and not taxpayer dollars.

Woodbury was the highest paid Seattle public employee in 2013, earning more than Carrasco's gross pay of $243,715.
How did Woodbury do it? As one of four operational deputy fire chiefs, he worked $74,000 in overtime, largely due to staff turnover and illness, the city said.

Sekhar is also a UW professor and vice-chair of the UW Department of Neurological Surgery. According to his bio, he is "known around the world for his expertise in treating complex neurosurgical problems, particularly skull base tumors such as acoustic neuromas, meningiomas and chordomas, and complex brain tumors."